"Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you've lost the whole thing." -William Stanley Merwin
My Ode:
Ode to Eggs
by Blase Biello
Your curvature and glistening white color,
Sitting in a row of 12 jumbo friends,
You remain full without an odor,
I crack you and let you boil,
knowing your a great product of my friend, hen.
Sometimes I flip you, or stir you, or fry you.
Sometimes I add things, and sometimes just salt.
Separating of yellow and white making circles,
I feel like a mathematician, doing addition,
as I eat you and subtract.
My Sonnet:
Kashif's Farm Sonnet
by Blase Biello
Kashif took a walk to the farm for
something to eat without any money he beat
any possibility so he walked out the door
but then e stopped, turned and got the red meat
he cooked it up and added some olive oil
a little zest here and some fire spice here
he worked and slaved over a hot stove, no spoil
was present, only one present a big, big one there
Kashif ran to and ripped off the wrapper
and to his surprise he was shocked at sigh
it was a life sized man, it was a rapper
he went on the net and book a fast flight
entered the plane and sat in the seat, used the heat
he started sweating profusely, fell asleep saying I'm beat!
My Memory Poem:
Past Eggs
by Blase Biello
The sparkling bright yellow,
crackling in my ears,
Oh, Blase Biello !
What, I'd like to hear,
See the bubbles,
come and go,
Hearing butter boil,
the zimmer and zest.
I love these the best.
I don't like too touch,
maybe just the toast.
Oh, how I should boast!
About the beautiful scent,
that my friend, the hen,
has produced, this great meal,
without the loss of its own life.
Statement About MY Poetry:
In two words, "It's wild." My poetry usually has a flat out meaning but in deeper, more complex words, that ultimately make it seem complex. Usually, figuring out what I’m talking about in my poems is usually easy but the words and phrases I use may manipulate the reader’s mind too think of deeper meanings. That’s good poetry in my point-of-view. Taking a known thing and expanding it too something it’s not, just because you can. Giving the reader, the ability too relate their own life and things too mine, is what I like too do. My poems often do not follow a rhyming scheme, they often skip around. Usually, I stick with ‘ABAB’ though. I don’t like to have my poems go “Rhyme-Rhyme-RHYME-RHYME”. I like them too go “Rhyme-RHYME-Rhyme-RHYME”. In my opinion this "personal-rhyme scheme" gives my poetry more time too develop before it punches in the sassy rhyme.
Adolescence II
by Rita Dove
Although it is night, I sit in the bathroom, waiting.
Sweat prickles behind my knees, the baby-breasts are alert.
Venetian blinds slice up the moon; the tiles quiver in pale strips.
Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round
As dinner plates and eyelashes like sharpened tines.
They bring the scent of licorice. One sits in the washbowl,
One on the bathtub edge; one leans against the door.
"Can you feel it yet?" they whisper.
I don't know what to say, again. They chuckle,
Patting their sleek bodies with their hands.
"Well, maybe next time." And they rise,
Glittering like pools of ink under moonlight,
And vanish. I clutch at the ragged holes
They leave behind, here at the edge of darkness.
Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue.
Analysis: Rita Dove’s poems do not follow a rhyme scheme. Nor do they rhyme. Poetry is completely free and Rita Dove chose not too have her poems rhyme. Dove has wrote many books of poetry and short stories. Also, she has won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1987 and the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities in 1996. Those two awards alone, are enough too show that she doesn’t need a rhyme scheme in her poems too make them golden. Looking through her multiple poems, shows that she bases most of the thoughts/ideas of her poems after both historical and political events. The line, “Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue,” from Adolescence II by Rita Dove means a lot, in my opinion. This quote gives the feeling that night is something the speaker cannot get rid of, like a ball of fur on their tongue. I can easily relate too this because I’ve had cat hair stuck in my mouth many a time. Also, pretty much anybody can get the message of how night sticks too the speaker in this poem. Rita Dove’s poems convey historical and political messages within them while relating too anybody. For example, the line (Adolescence II) “Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round.” This three seal men could represent historical figures that may have been sly in something they do. Rita Dove does a great job of making poems work, without making rhyming a necessity.
Voices
by Sharon Olds
(for Lucille)
Our voices race to the towers, and up beyond
the atmosphere, to the satellite,
slowly turning, then back down
to another tower, and cell. Quincy,
Toi, Honoree, Sarah, Dorianne,
Galway. When Athena Elizalex calls,
I tell her I'm missing Lucille's dresses,
and her shoes, and Elizabeth says "And she would say,
"Damn! I do look good!'" After we
hang up, her phone calls me again
from inside her jacket, in the grocery store
with her elder son, eleven, I cannot
hear the words, just part of the matter
of the dialogue, it's about sugar, I am
in her pocket like a spirit. Then I dream it —
looking at an illuminated city
from a hill, at night, and suddenly
the lights go out — like all the stars
gone out. "Well, if there is great sex
in heaven," we used to say, "or even just
sex, or one kiss, what's wrong
with that?!" Then I'm dreaming a map of the globe, with
bright pinpoints all over it —
in the States, the Caribbean, Latin America,
in Europe, and in Africa —
everywhere a poem of hers is being
read. Small comfort. Not small
to the girl who curled against the wall around the core
of her soul, keeping it alive, with long
labor, then unfolded into the hard truths, the
lucid beauty, of her song.
Analysis: Sharon Olds is also an award winning poet. Her available poems do not contain a visible rhyming scheme either. She also has many collections of published poems, similar too Rita Dove. Sharon Olds seems too convey the dignified life of a woman in many of her poems. In her poem, “Voices” she talks about the voices of a girl’s soul and other deep meanings. The line, “Not small to the girl who curled against the wall around the core of her soul, keeping it alive, with long labor, then unfolded into the hard truths, the lucid beauty, of her song.” This shows her urge too show that woman’s voices are powerful and that they hold a place in today’s society. She has validated everyday woman life as something that actually can be written into poetry, as you’ll see in her many poems. This is shown in the line from “Voices”, “After we hang up, her phone calls me again from inside her jacket, in the grocery store with her elder son, eleven.” This is a perfect example of how Sharon Olds exemplifies everyday women’s life into poetry and makes it work, without rhymes!
Eating Poetry
by Mark Strand
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.
The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
Their eyeballs roll,
their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
She does not understand.
When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
she screams.
I am a new man.
I snarl at her and bark.
I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
Analysis:
Mark Strand is also an award-decorated and very prestigious poet. Many of Strand’s poems have too do with life, what’s within life, and nature/animals. Things like light, and insects, and animals are often personified in his pieces of poetry. In his poem, “The Coming of Light”, ‘light’ represents many things, including love. In his poem, “Eating Poetry” the speaker compares their-self too a dog and actually states that he/she has turned into a dog. The lines, “There is no happiness like mine, I have been eating poetry.” shows that poetry is the speakers life and true happiness. This character in the poem is most likely Mark Strand. Mark Strand seems too carry a light, joking tone in all of his poems. Conveying bigger picture messages in little personifications and comedic ways. For example, in the poem it states, "I am a new man. I snarl at her and bark." This shows that the speaker has been reborn and become something new with the use of poetry. This is a deep meaning in disguise. Too say that poetry can transform you within your poem is a broad step that Strand was not afraid too take. But, the way he took that step was light and brought it on the reader very easy and sensible.
Blase Biello
"Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you've lost the whole thing." -William Stanley Merwin
My Ode:
My Sonnet:
My Memory Poem:
Statement About MY Poetry:
In two words, "It's wild." My poetry usually has a flat out meaning but in deeper, more complex words, that ultimately make it seem complex. Usually, figuring out what I’m talking about in my poems is usually easy but the words and phrases I use may manipulate the reader’s mind too think of deeper meanings. That’s good poetry in my point-of-view. Taking a known thing and expanding it too something it’s not, just because you can. Giving the reader, the ability too relate their own life and things too mine, is what I like too do. My poems often do not follow a rhyming scheme, they often skip around. Usually, I stick with ‘ABAB’ though. I don’t like to have my poems go “Rhyme-Rhyme-RHYME-RHYME”. I like them too go “Rhyme-RHYME-Rhyme-RHYME”. In my opinion this "personal-rhyme scheme" gives my poetry more time too develop before it punches in the sassy rhyme.
Analysis:
Rita Dove’s poems do not follow a rhyme scheme. Nor do they rhyme. Poetry is completely free and Rita Dove chose not too have her poems rhyme. Dove has wrote many books of poetry and short stories. Also, she has won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1987 and the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities in 1996. Those two awards alone, are enough too show that she doesn’t need a rhyme scheme in her poems too make them golden. Looking through her multiple poems, shows that she bases most of the thoughts/ideas of her poems after both historical and political events. The line, “Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue,” from Adolescence II by Rita Dove means a lot, in my opinion. This quote gives the feeling that night is something the speaker cannot get rid of, like a ball of fur on their tongue. I can easily relate too this because I’ve had cat hair stuck in my mouth many a time. Also, pretty much anybody can get the message of how night sticks too the speaker in this poem. Rita Dove’s poems convey historical and political messages within them while relating too anybody. For example, the line (Adolescence II) “Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round.” This three seal men could represent historical figures that may have been sly in something they do. Rita Dove does a great job of making poems work, without making rhyming a necessity.
Analysis:
Sharon Olds is also an award winning poet. Her available poems do not contain a visible rhyming scheme either. She also has many collections of published poems, similar too Rita Dove. Sharon Olds seems too convey the dignified life of a woman in many of her poems. In her poem, “Voices” she talks about the voices of a girl’s soul and other deep meanings. The line, “Not small to the girl who curled against the wall around the core of her soul, keeping it alive, with long labor, then unfolded into the hard truths, the lucid beauty, of her song.” This shows her urge too show that woman’s voices are powerful and that they hold a place in today’s society. She has validated everyday woman life as something that actually can be written into poetry, as you’ll see in her many poems. This is shown in the line from “Voices”, “After we hang up, her phone calls me again from inside her jacket, in the grocery store with her elder son, eleven.” This is a perfect example of how Sharon Olds exemplifies everyday women’s life into poetry and makes it work, without rhymes!
Mark Strand is also an award-decorated and very prestigious poet. Many of Strand’s poems have too do with life, what’s within life, and nature/animals. Things like light, and insects, and animals are often personified in his pieces of poetry. In his poem, “The Coming of Light”, ‘light’ represents many things, including love. In his poem, “Eating Poetry” the speaker compares their-self too a dog and actually states that he/she has turned into a dog. The lines, “There is no happiness like mine, I have been eating poetry.” shows that poetry is the speakers life and true happiness. This character in the poem is most likely Mark Strand. Mark Strand seems too carry a light, joking tone in all of his poems. Conveying bigger picture messages in little personifications and comedic ways. For example, in the poem it states, "I am a new man. I snarl at her and bark." This shows that the speaker has been reborn and become something new with the use of poetry. This is a deep meaning in disguise. Too say that poetry can transform you within your poem is a broad step that Strand was not afraid too take. But, the way he took that step was light and brought it on the reader very easy and sensible.